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Friday, May 31, 2013

The war for Tijuana, a 20+ year conflict. PART 2

Tijuano for Borderland Beat

The war for Tijuana is not a new war, nor has it ended. In part 1 of this article we explored the history behind the war for Tijuana, we saw how the Arellano Felix brothers became Mexico´s most powerful cartel in the 90´s, some people didn´t like the article because they thought people like “El Chapo” or “El Mayo” seemed out of league against the Tijuana Cartel, but the truth is, in those days, they didn´t have the power they have now.

Even if some people don’t like to read this, the fact is the Sinaloa cartel had little to no power in Baja California in the early 90´s, as a matter of fact, the Sinaloa cartel didn´t exist as such, they were all under Amado Carrillo´s orders, be it the Beltran Leyva´s, the Zambada´s, and even Chapo, all of them somehow answered to, or were under protection from Amado Carrillo.

Something worth mentioning, is the fact that before all this, Benjamin Arellano was a very good friend of Chapo Guzman, to the point of calling themselves "compadres", but "El Chapo" wasn´t his only "Compadre", according to an interview with Amado Carrillo´s mom, Carrillo was the Godfather of Benjamin´s son. She claimed she had nothing but respect for the Arellano Felix family, who promised to respect Amado´s family and their property.

The following are some of the most important facts in the war for Tijuana, some of them didn´t take place in Tijuana, but they surely had an effect on the war for the city.

THE WAR FOR JUAREZ BEGINS

It was July, 1997, the news about Amado Carrillo´s mysterious death were fresh, suddenly, the powerful Juarez Cartel was without a leader, and many tried to assume that role.

The violence in Ciudad Juarez exploded after Amado´s death, Alfonzo Corral Olaguez aka “El Patas Verdes” (Green feet- he was called this way because he loved to dress with green crocodile boots) was at the time the plaza boss for the Juarez Cartel, he wasn´t seen as a possible successor for “El Señor de los Cielos”, and so he felt relatively safe, he was just a lieutenant for the organization and shared the position with Juan Heriberto Carrillo Olivas, Amado´s nephew.

On August 3, 1997, Corral Olaguez was killed in the Max Fim restaurant. According to news reports of the era, 3 elegantly dressed men arrived on board a limousine to the restaurant; these men crossed the main door and began shooting their AK-47´s at a table. Corral Olaguez tried to save his girlfriend´s life covering her with his body, but she also received the coup de grace by the attackers.

Six people died that day, including then Cd. Juarez plaza boss, Alfonzo Corral Olaguez. This was the beginning of a bloody era for Cd. Juarez, the bloodshed spread throughout the country, with shootouts in Mexico City, Jalisco and Sonora.

Federal Authorities soon realized this wasn´t the Carrillo Fuentes style, they believed this was the dirty work of the Arellano Felix brothers. One DEA agent was quoted as saying “The cartels all work together except the Arellano Felix brothers, they don´t get along with anyone”.

The war didn´t stop in Tijuana or Juarez, it also reached Mexico City.

FBI´S TEN MOST WANTED

After Amado Carrillo´s death, the possible merger between the Tijuana and Juarez cartels disappeared, with their most powerful enemies gone, the Tijuana cartel was seen as the biggest and most dangerous criminal group in Latin America, at the time nobody was able to challenge them, “Mayo” Zambada didn´t had the power needed, “El Chapo” and “Guero” Palma were in prison, and the all-mighty Gulf Baron, Juan Garcia Abrego was captured a year before, at the time nobody knew who Osiel Cardenas was, much less the zetas.

Soon after the incursion of the Tijuana Cartel in Juarez, and fearing the violence would cross the border, the FBI named Ramon Arellano Felix one of their Ten Most Wanted fugitives. 50,000 USD were offered as reward for information leading to Ramon´s arrest. This reward was followed by an offer of up to 2 million USD from the US Department of Justice.

Even with all the press Ramon and Benjamin were receiving, the cartel´s operations continued without problems, the cocaine kept arriving at Tijuana and the cartel kept smuggling it to the US.

Meanwhile, underestimated by his rivals, ”El Chapo” Guzman became the owner of the Puente Grande Federal Prison; anything from liquor bottles, to drugs, to woman was at his disposal. He bribed all the guards he could, and threatened those few who refused to obey him. Along with his partner Hector Palma Salazar, “El Chapo” controlled the so called maximum security prison, his future escape -much blamed on the then new Fox administration- was planned during these years.

"WANTED" ads like this were hung in the San Ysidro/Tijuana border

THE JOURNALIST

Jesus Blancornelas is a well-known name in the journalist circles in Mexico, at a time of severe censorship, his ZETA magazine was one of the few places were you could read about the narco wars.

In 1988 Hector Felix Miranda, co-founder of the ZETA magazine was gunned down by Jorge Hank Rhon´s bodyguards, this crime was never solved but ZETA keeps pointing to the Hank family.

ZETA employees always received threats, but in 1997 the threats became reality, it was November 27th, Jesus Blancornelas left his home when a group of hit men ambushed him along with his driver/bodyguard Luis Valero Elizaldi.

The hit men had been following them for days, that morning, one of them took out the air from the four tires of Blancornelas Ford Explorer, and his bodyguard took the Explorer to a tire shop and picked Blancornelas at about 9:30 AM.

Luis Valero noticed a green Pontiac and told Blancornelas they were “mañosos” (slang for mobsters), Blancornelas just told him to be cautious, a few blocks ahead, the green Pontiac caught up with them, Fabian Martinez aka “El Tiburon” began shooting his handgun at them, then David Corona Barron aka “El CH” shoot at them with an AK-47, Valero tried to escape but Corona Barron shoot him in the chest and killed him, Jesus Blancornelas received 4 gunshots in his body, one of them broke his trachea and another one punctured his lung, David Corona was supposed to give Blancornelas the final shot, but he died before he could do it, shrapnel from a bullet fired by one of his associated hit him in the eye killing him instantly.

With all the confusion, the hit men escaped leaving behind the body of one of the most famous killers in cartel history. David Corona had a fake ID with the name of Javier Ortiz Calvo. It wasn´t until the FBI got a tip, that his real identity was known.

Blancornelas survived the attack, but he never recovered his normal life, then President Ernesto Zedillo gave Blancornelas a full time guard, he commissioned 12 special forces soldiers to this task, these soldiers belonged to the elite GAFE(Same group that gave birth to Los Zetas).

According to Blancornelas, Ramon Arellano Felix denied ordering the hit on him, but nobody believed this, the hit came 3 weeks after ZETA published the names and connections of the “Narcojuniors” (Young men from the wealthiest families in Tijuana who acted as Ramon´s personal army).

This failed attempt on the journalist brought extreme heat to the Tijuana plaza, not only did they fail, but they lost their main hit man.

David Corona Barron aka "El CH" after the failed hit.

THE DEATH OF A “NARCOJUNIOR”

Fabian Martinez Gonzalez aka “El Tiburon” was a member of a highly respected family in Tijuana, those who knew him at middle school never thought he would become the cold blooded killer he was, while in School Fabian was constantly bullied.

Fabian met Ramon Arellano somewhere in the 80´s, at the time, Ramon was someone who would kill just for fun, they began a friendship and soon the group included many of Tijuana´s most respected heirs.

By the mid 80´s Fabian was selling hundreds of kilos of cocaine, he was seldom inspected in the San Ysidro border, but in 1987 his luck changed, he had just bought 200 kilos of pure cocaine with one of his contacts in Mazatlan, he tried to smuggle them to California, but by the time he reached the border, there were dozens of DEA and Customs agents awaiting for him. Many dealers have spent decades in jail for fewer drugs, but somehow Fabian´s lawyer got him an 18 month sentence, while in Jail, Fabian met the business partner of his Mazatlan´s contact, he confessed to Fabian that Manolo Tirado, aka “El Manotas” had snitched on him.

Manolo Tirado was murdered in Tijuana just a few days after the release of “El Tiburon”.

This wasn´t Fabian´s first murder, nor his last, Fabian killed a lot of people, he became one of the most proficient killers for the Arellano Felix brothers, along with his “narcojunior” friends, Fabian was responsible for countless deaths in places such as Sinaloa, Jalisco, Michoacan, Sonora, Cd. Juarez and Mexico City.

Fabian was known for his skill with an AK-47, he was so cocky about his “career” that he used to challenge the Police Agencies using their own radio frequencies, in 1992, after the murder of the Olmos brothers, Fabian and his friends kept cursing at the cops, they played songs in the radio frequency and event told them “You know who we are, you know where we are, come and get us…If you dare, we still have lots of bullets for you”.

In 1998, Fabian was sent to Zapopan, Jalisco, his mission was to murder Napoleon Flores Gaxiola, a Sinaloan who stole drugs from the Tijuana Cartel. Fabian had no trouble finding and killing Flores Gaxiola, when Fabian tried to escape he ran into the police who followed him and his partners, a shootout started and one of his partners was hurt, their gateway car broke down and Miguel Angel Galvez Castro was arrested, two other men successfully escaped on foot but “El Tiburon” didn´t share their luck, he took down a man from his vehicle, while on the run he confronted the Zapopan police, as luck would have it, his recently stolen vehicle broke down too, police agents followed him to a phone booth where he was surrounded, not wanting to life the rest of his days in prison, Martinez pointed his gun at himself and told the officers he would kill himself if they approached him, at this moment he made a final phone call, legend has it he called Benjamin Arellano letting him know what happened, after this, the police officers ran towards him and he shot himself.

Some people still believe Fabian didn´t die, his body was never recovered, his forensic records disappeared and it was proven by the PGR that his autopsy report was forged.

Fabian Martinez Gonzalez aka "El Tiburon".

BAJA´S FIRST MASS MURDER

Fermin Castro Ramirez, a former teacher from Ensenada, Baja California, used to land airplanes arriving from Sinaloa; his job was to safeguard the shipments and then hiding them in false bottoms on cattle trucks going to Tijuana.

Fermin Castro worked alongside Oscar Quiñonez Beltran aka “El Naty” and Eduardo Basurto aka “El Guayito”. They all worked for a cell of the Arellano Felix Cartel. Sometime in 1998, Quiñonez Beltran owed 80 thousand dollars to Fermin Castro, Castro convinced “El Guayito” to give him a shipment(some say up to 800 kilos of Marijuana) from Quiñonez Beltran in exchange for 10 thousand dollars.

On September 13th, 1998, Basurto arrived at Castro´s home in Ensenada, he demanded the 10 thousand dollars Castro promised him, instead, Basurto received a few dollars to fill up his gas tank and head back to Tijuana. Fermin Castro called “El Naty” and told him he wouldn´t return the drugs until he received his money.

4 days later, at about 3 AM, several armed men arrived at Castro´s house, the compound where Castro live consisted of three homes belonging to three different families inside the same ranch.

The armed men took positions outside of the three homes, they knocked on the first home, property of Francisco Flores Altamirano, not knowing what was going on his mother opened the door and the hit men began shooting, there they shoot a 12 year old boy and left him for dead, the commando then ordered those in the house to step out to the backyard while other members broke into Esperanza Tovar´s home, Tovar´s family was taken to the backyard along with Macaria, and 8 month pregnant woman and Gerardo, his husband, all of them were thrown in the dirt and ordered to remain face down. The last home the broke into was that of Fermin Castro, he was shot in his bedroom; the armed group took his wife and 1 year old son to the backyard with the rest of the people. The interrogation began, the armed men asked for someone nicknamed “Chapo” or “Chaparro”, none of the family members could give any info so Lino Quintana ordered his men to kill them. Lino Quintana was the leader of the armed group, he was at the time one of the most feared hit men from the Arellano Felix brothers.

18 people died that day including women and children, only two people survived the attack, the 12 year old boy who was shot first, and Viviana, the oldest daughter of Fermin Castro, who remained hidden in a closet while the armed men killed her whole family.

This massacre ignored the unwritten law among cartels of respecting woman and children; no mercy was shown towards pregnant woman and small children. In an era where mass murders were unheard of, this tragedy brought even more pressure on the Tijuana Cartel, and their leaders.

"El Rodeo" crime scene, woman and kids were killed that day.

THE SPLIT OF THE JUAREZ CARTEL

The war soon reached Cd. Juarez, after Amado Carrillo´s death, the Juarez Cartel was in need of a new leader, several names were mentioned at the time, among them were those of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia and Juan Jose “El Azul” Esparragoza Moreno, but at the end it was Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, Amado´s brother, the one who took the reins of the Juarez Cartel.

Vicente has been described as man with a lack of leadership, a very bad temper, and an extremely violent personality; someone who acts more on impulse than reasoning. This is the reason quoted by many for the defection of some of Amado´s closest allies, this included Arturo Beltran Leyva, “El Mayo”, “El Azul” and many more.

Knowing how paranoid Vicente was, none of this man felt they needed to be near him, besides, their loyalties were with Amado, not Vicente. For a time, all of this men operated by themselves, but that soon changed.

This is the time when the Sinaloa Cartel began to form as such, Carrillo´s former lieutenants formed their own groups, took some of the connections they had and began their operations in the Pacific. This is the time when “El Mayo” felt he could go back to Baja California and fight for the plaza.

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes aka "El Viceroy".

THOSE WHO OWE NOTHING, FEAR NOTHING

Several high profile murders took place in Tijuana at the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000, including those of: Jose Contreras Subias, former right hand man of Rafael Caro Quintero; Dr. Sergio Guillermo Perez, believed to be associated with the Arellano Felix brothers; Joaquin Baez Lugo, an Attorney who worked for the Tijuana Cartel; Former Judge Rodolfo Gallardo Hernandez, along with his wife and son; Victor Manuel Dominguez Verdugo; Jesus Araiza Sanchez aka “El Flaco”, a known drug smuggler; Police agent Pedro Vazquez and many more.

At the time it was a known fact that a hit squad from outside the city was conducting the murders, the man in charge of this hit squad was none other than Vicente Zambada Niebla aka “El Vicentillo”. Zambada Niebla, then 24, was sent by his father, Ismael Zambada Garcia to fight for the Tijuana plaza, his mission was to “heat up” the plaza, knowing the brothers were far from the city, “El Mayo” saw this as an opportunity to take it from their hands. The idea was to kill as many high profile targets as possible, it didn´t matter if the victims weren´t related to the Tijuana Cartel, they just wanted to bring the attention of the Federal authorities to Tijuana.

Alfredo De la Torre Marquez was the Police Chief in Tijuana, he had been appointed by then City Mayor Francisco Vega de la Madrid(now running for Governor), at the time it was known that the Tijuana Cartel tried to bribe De la Torre, however, the Police Chief didn´t accept those bribes. The Arellano´s weren´t pleased with him, but as long as he didn´t mess with them, they wouldn´t mess with him (at the time, the local police had no jurisdiction over drug crimes).

In February 2000, Alfredo De la Torre was murdered, the group under Vicente Zambada known as “El Comando de la Muerte”(Death´s commando) ambushed him, they had infiltrated the Tijuana Police and knew Alfredo had no bodyguards on Sundays, more than 100 bullets were fired at his Suburban, of those, about 50 hit him, there was no way he could had survived the attack.

One week after the murder of De la Torre, Baja California´s Attorney General announced to the media the capture of six members of the “Death´s Commando”, years later it was known that people from the Tijuana Cartel captured them and handed them to local authorities.

Alfredo De la Torre´s Suburban.

THE END FOR “DON CHUY”

Three days after the capture of Zambada´s hit men, another capture took Tijuana by surprise, but this time it was a much bigger fish, on March 11th, 2000, a group of Special Forces surrounded Tijuana´s famous Lazaro Cardenas Federal High School, they had received an anonymous call with information about the location of Jesus Labra Aviles aka “Don Chuy”, that day, Labra Aviles arrived at the High School to see his son´s football game, he felt safe, knowing that his people had captured the Zambada team just three days before, he felt so safe that he only had two bodyguards with him.

It was about 2:30 PM, it was the game´s halftime when the bodyguards left Labra Aviles alone in the stands, they went to the bathroom and that was the chance the Special Forces were looking for, they didn´t care for the bodyguards, they just wanted to capture the man who was considered the “brain” of the Tijuana Cartel, as soon as the bodyguards left, the soldiers ran towards Labra, “Don Chuy” tried to escape, but he was no match to the youth and speed of the Special Forces soldiers who quickly caught up with him. Labra quickly surrendered and knelt and raised his arms asking not to be shot.

When the bodyguards saw this, they simply threw their weapons and fled the scene; nothing was heard from them again.

“Don Chuy” was a key element in the Tijuana Cartel, he was the one who introduced the Arellano Felix brothers to the large scale drug business, he was the one who inherited the “plaza” to them, and he was the one in charge of most of the cartel´s profits. Labra had connections in every aspect of the social life in Tijuana.

Many people mark this capture as the beginning of the fall for the Tijuana Cartel, Labra´s arrest took place 13 years ago, and since then, the US Government has claimed the Tijuana Cartel is history.

Jesus Labra Aviles at the moment of his capture.

THE CAPTURE OF EL MAYEL

The capture of “Don Chuy” was a major hit to the Tijuana Cartel, but it wasn´t the only hit they received in 2000, two months after Labra´s arrest, another group of Mexican Special Forces arrested Ismael Higuera Guerrero aka “El Mayel”, quite possible the most proficient cocaine “lander” in Mexico´s cartel history, this man was in charge of landing planes arriving from Colombia and taking the tons of cocaine to the United States, by the time of his capture he was considered by some newspapers as the new boss of the Tijuana Cartel, he had connections with the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers, with the Londoño family in Colombia and with the FARC, he was seen as a highly respected partner in Colombia. The famous narco-corrido CLAVE PRIVADA was written for him by Los Tucanes de Tijuana.

There are two stories on Higuera´s capture, one claims the Mexican Army noticed two beautiful ladies arriving from Colombia with fake papers at the Mexico City airport who took another flight to Tijuana, they commissioned another group to follow them to their destination, the ladies arrived at Tijuana´s airport and quickly boarded a brand new Suburban on their way to Ensenada, Baja California. In Ensenada they arrived at a luxurious house near the beach, the soldiers noticed armed men and took pictures of them, a day later they received confirmation on the identities of some of these men; one of special interest to them was Ismael Higuera Guerrero. Knowing the firepower of Higuera´s bodyguards, they waited till the early morning of the next day, then stormed the house and caught “El Mayel” naked with one of the Colombian ladies, his 15 year old son was also naked in another room with the other lady. It is said that they were so high in cocaine that “Mayel” tried shooting at them but hit nothing but air.

The other version claims the army personnel received an anonymous call, much like the one in Labra´s capture, claiming there were armed men in a beach house in Ensenada, the soldiers arrived at the house where Higuera´s bodyguards began shooting at them, this version claims the army personnel had no idea who they had just captured.

Either way, when his identity was confirmed, Ismael Higuera was quickly taken to Mexico City, they feared a full scale attack on them trying to save him, this was a man believed to be responsible for about three thousand murders, they knew he controlled tens, maybe hundreds of hit men and thought keeping him in Baja was too risky.Years later "El Mayel" would be extradited, while in jail he became christian, when he faced Judge Larry Burns in San Diego he just said "In the name of Christ, I ask to be forgiven for my sins", he is serving a 40 year sentence in the ADX Supermax.

Ismael Higuera Guerrero aka "El Mayel".

THE RETURN OF EL CHAPO

What can be said about Joaquin Guzman that hasn´t been said before? Joaquin Guzman Loera was a powerful drug lord at the moment of his capture in Guatemala, most people believed his power vanished when he was admitted in the Puente Grande “Maximum Security” Prison. For years “El Chapo” dedicated himself to create a corruption network inside Puente Grande like no drug lord had ever created in Mexico.

This corruption network wasn´t the sole work of Joaquin Guzman, there´s no way he could have corrupted so many people by himself, while in jail he received constant help from his crew in Sinaloa and from his then friends and allies, the Beltran Leyva brothers and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

Mexican media, especially left wing media have for years claimed “El Chapo” escaped with help from then Mexican President Vicente Fox (PAN), there no proof about this, many conspiracy theories involve Fox receiving 20 million dollars for Guzman´s freedom, but again, no proof exists of that.

What is known is the fact that during the term of President Ernesto Zedillo (PRI), Joaquin Guzman gained full control of the so-called Maximum Security Puente Grande Prison; Parties, alcohol, drugs and woman were at Guzman´s disposal 24/7.

He was known for throwing big parties in Christmas and New Year, for helping the families of those inmates who had no money, but he also was known for having any woman he wanted inside the prison, it didn´t matter if they wanted to be with him or not.

Guzman had a powerful ally inside Puente Grande who would, years later, become another drug lord sought by the US Government: Damaso Lopez Nuñez aka “El Licenciado”, Lopez Nuñez took the role of Puente Grande´s Security Chief in 2000, before that he was at some time State Police Commander in Sinaloa.

One of the first theories about Guzman´s escape dealt with the fact that he could be extradited at any moment, Human Rights groups got word of his constant abuse towards prison personnel, his extravagant parties and the full control he had in Puente Grande. The Federal Government also began an investigation on Guzman´s power inside prison.

Just days before Guzman´s escape, the Federal Government ordered the prison director to increase security around Joaquin Guzman, Hector Luis Palma aka “El Guero” and Arturo Matinez aka “El Texas”, the order was given, but the prison personnel did nothing about it.

The official report claims Joaquin Guzman escaped in a laundry kart, helped by Javier Camberos aka “El Chito”. The investigation by PGR claims Camberos was able to take Guzman inside a laundry kart through the multiple security doors without anyone noticing, when he reached the parking lot, Guzman jumped inside the trunk of a vehicle driven by Camberos and took off. Camberos claims he drove for some time and then Chapo got out of the trunk, then they drove towards Zapotlanejo but “El Chapo” told him he was thirsty, Camberos stopped to buy Guzman a drink, but when he returned to the car, Guzman was gone, at least that´s what Camberos said.

Conspiracy theories aside, Joaquin Guzman´s escape proved to be a one of the key factors, if not THE key factor in the following years of the narco wars, his escape would have an impact not only in Sinaloa or Tijuana, but in all Mexico.

El Chapo was back and he wanted to regain what he felt was his…and much more.

Alleged picture of "El Chapo" years after his escape from prison.

TO BE CONTINUED...

UPDATE

People wrote claiming I stole the info, others(rightfully) believed credit should be given to the sources for this article, I foolishly thought that since this info was of public domain in Tijuana, and since I didn´t translate anyone else´s article on the war for Tijuana, no credit was due(I know, that was stupid of me). So here´s a list of sources I have used to learn all the above information.(I wasn´t able to locate links for all the stories since some of them I knew from friends or from TV).

My interest in the drug war began way before it´s media coverage exploded. Being born and raised in Tijuana´s Zona Norte, I´ve always been around drugs, dealers and death. Many of my youth friends are either death or in jail. I wish to contribute with translations of articles not always available to the english speaking reader, even if it is from time to time only.

170 comments:

Hell yea. Been checking bb everyday a couple times for the follow article. Haven't read this one yet but if it's half as good as part one then its a homerun. Thanks Tijuano, chivis, havana puro and everyone else for you're hard work and honest journalism. Thanks for finding time in you're busy lives to help imform the misinformed. Salu2 desde Chicago. -12

unbelievably cohesive and informative, thank you...I saw those TJ posters for the brothers my whole life as a child, I used to ask my Mom who they were, and look around the crossing like they would be hiding there when I was like 7 yrs old....

Great piece! Reading it a thought struck me: if corruption is required to smuggle all these drugs from Colombia to Mexico then how can these very same drugs be distributed throughout the US without corruption??? The answer must be that:either this is an illusion and the US is actually as corrupt as e.g. Mexico OR our cops/DEA/FBI etc are less effective (lazy/poorly trained/no equipment)OR what???

I mean, we whine that the mexicans dont stop the flow of drugs, but why dont we stop the flow of drugs ourselves (at our border) then if it supposed to be so easy??? It is as if nobody seems to be really want to STOP the drugs from flowing.

Hey bro "MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND"So does your head how do you think all these politicians have mansions and all these properties all over the place on a two hundred thousand dollar a year salary in this fucking economy while others struggle to buy milk!!!!!!

Fuck yeah. There was an article onlaredo morning times about how a guy who was caught laundering money for the Z. in the case it was dicovered that he was donating funds to top texas officals for their campaign. They were interviewed and said they returned the money when they found out were it came from.

I'm a firm believer that all of the antrax corridos are made up stories but when vicentillo was in tj did he have them with him or what? Is that maybe how they got some sort of respect and now everyone in culiacan just glorifies them?

but they didn't.. why?? Cause "chaputo" or "mayate" like your calling them out started them.. now Ramon is Fucking dead.. and the rest are in prison.. and el albanil or Inge is hiding... could of , should , he said she said its all the same.. Chapo and mayo are on top for a reason they out smarted most of the cartels.. hate it or love it , its true...

Every since i was very young i have been reading about mobsters particularly about la cosa nostra they were fascinating how they operated but this is right up there with it maybe better.thanks for your hard work but at least the sicilians didnt kill women and children.the stuff these narcos do is unbelievable and sickening

Gracias tijuano... Im not bashing on u at all as a matter of fact I love ur work itsvso detailed and complere. I can bevwrong bout this but as a member that guy on the floor shoot at the reporter in a van and the ricachae cought him in the eye. Agien no offense and thankx for the great read

That´s something I´ve always wondered, corruption surely don´t stops at the border, there´s no way all those tons of cocaine and weed distribute themselves, there´s no way local police in the US can´t find them, all the blame always goes to Mexico, but like one reader said once, when was the last time a ton or two of cocaine were seized in the US?

As far as I know, Antrax didn´t exist back then, from what I heard they aren´t in the front battle, they are just bodyguards for the Zambada family, if I´m not mistaken they were created after Vicente´s capture, I´m sure one of the readers can give us more info on them.

Los antrax were the bodyguards of vicentillo and his brothers..example el mayito gordo..Sinaloa have hit teams all over baja california so it would be easy to order and organize hits like those to heat up the plaza..el chino..el sargento phoenix..el roke antrax..el chube..el frankie..these and more are and were due to some of them being killed are the personal bodyguards of los mayitos..since the fall of vicentillo his number one bodyguard el chino has moved up in rank and now el chino is trafficking more..thats why now el chino and his team aka los antrax are in every corrido they take of el mayito gordo and el mayo zambada at times..

Are our cops only interested in donuts or are we unfair to Mexico? I mean it seems as if we want them to clean up their act, but we are no better at all. Probably even worse: we loud mouth the mexicans whilst we are just as incapable (or uninterested) in stopping the flow ourselves. I mean: if the shit was piling up so fast in DEA warehouses that hey could not build new ones fast enough, then at least we could say: look at us this is how it is done!Or am I wrong here?

One theory that has been said about the escape of El Chapo Guzman from Puente Grande Prison holds that he didn't escape from prison in the day they have said he escaped. Considering that the warden at the time, Damaso Lopez Nunez, has now reached a high post in the cartel structure and helped chapo escape this is the believed theory: Chapo was allowed to walk out the front door and escape the day prior to his alleged escape. In other words Camberos was not carrying Chapo in the cart he was pushing the day it is portrayed he escaped.

Caf was the zetas of mexico back then you could also say Ramon Arellano Felix was the z40 of that time both beasts and feared but also plain garbage that deserve to die in the worst way. As history shows now days and back then chapo guzman was/is the one stepping up to tame those beasts with rabbies Ramon and z40 at the end one got put down with the nice bullet to the head treatment ,z40 needs that same treatment. Its also funny how that one poster said everyone feared the caf especially chapo hahaha yeh its no wonder Joaquin Guzman was the one who threaten the arellano brothers and went to war with them and ordered the assassination of the arellanos at club cristines in 1992,also chapo and his sinaloa cartel were already operating in tijuana more then 25 years ago building multi million dollar tunnels passing tons of cocaine threw them. Like i mentioned in part 1 of this story the very same tijuana cartel crew thought chapo was more powerful better connected then them and im only saying what caf members from that time talk about on the documentary : inside tijuana drug lords, there you got original caf members,dea agents working cases in that time frame, all them discussing how things were back then ,among other people that were involed in that era of drug trafficking.

Its funny but since they are born and raised in the mountains come from little towns where most of them are poor almost never wore shoes most of the time are barefoot they usually just wear sandals. I have heard of people not being able to walk in shoes or boots since they are not use to it. But its still funny hes ready for battle with sandals lol

I've heard these stories about the arrellanos since the 90s but didn't know that El vicentillo zambada was in charge of the commando de la muerte also new to me is the fact that El licensiado was in.charge of puente Grande security

Mexico and the u.s are similar in one way.guys at the top with money run the show and the poor ppl in both countries can do little it seems but the good lord will see fit to put an end to it on both sides

How does Chapo get away with freedom? It's paying off the right people. We have been on his trail for years now, but everytime we are close he's one step ahead of us. Money buys his freedom. If you think he makes millions moving drugs to the U. S, it's not nearly enough to what he makes in Europe! This guy is a very savvy and has a lot of smart people working for the organization. Those who get cought moving his product, retire cuz their families get monthly salaries so not to talk! And yes, he has border patrol and INS under the payroll.

It is irony, or a dark coincidence, that the security assigned to protect Jesus Blancornelas after the attempted assasination on his life, consisted of GAFE's-the same group from which Osiel Cardenas would recruit his origal Zetas from; that the name of his magazine is Zeta. I've always seen that as an eire coincidence.

I think that that when U.S. DEA agents claim AFO is dead, they mean the AFO that was lead by Benja and Ramon-for all practical purposes, it is.; I don't think anybody can really say it is same cartel without the late Ramon and the U.S. imprisoned Benja.

The description of el Viceroy doesn't surprise me one bit. His mentality probably trickled down to his cartel members and it manifested itself in their behavior. During the 90's and early 2000's Juarez was racked with a plague of woman murders, many of whom have gone unsolved. The body count stood around the 400s. It would be interested to know what role the Juarez Cartel had in those murders/disappearences. I'm sure they didn't have anything to do with some of the murders, but they probably had something to do with most of them.

I don't mean any disrespect but I sent you the links to where the information is that tijuano took and not give names of. You say BDN is bad for that yet I am showing some of your reporters are doing same.

Doing the translation is hard and credit goes to tijuano but he did not credit the real people who wrote this in 2009.

why do you have two faces about this? I thought you were very honest and fair tijuano can not do this without harm to reputation of borderland beat imo.

As feared as Ramon was so was El Mayel and El Gil they kept La Plaza of Tijuana and Mexicali for many years so flamboyant. I remember back when el guilillo Got third place en la Baja 1000 or was it 500.

June 2,2013 1:30 pm I was referring to caf being mexicos most hated,dangerous, violent,psychotic ,bloodthirsty group of back then just how zetas are today.I didn't mention or intend to say they were making profits kidnapping migrants you dumbass your the real idiot.

I´ve been told some readers claim I stole this info from an old blog called Narco Tijuana, I DID knew and read almost daily that blog, as many people did in Tijuana,

With that said, I did not just translate any of the info here, matter of fact, I didn´t even use Narco Tijuana as a source since Narco Tijuana covered the war between Teo and Inge, and I haven´t gotten to that point yet,

I did a quick search and the ONLY info written in this article that I was able to find in Narco Tijuana was the capture of Vicente Zambada, they did a recap of his crimes in Tijuana.

This is what the reader wrote:

"TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH "TIJUANO" TO COPY AND PASTE & STEAL STORIES FROM OTHER BLOGS . LIKE THIS OTHER BLOGGERS DO ... ALL THIS INFORMATION IS FROM "NARCO TIJUANA" BLOG THAT WAS UP FROM 07-09 WHEN THE INTERNAL WAR WAS GOING ON IN EL C.A.F... ALL THEY DO IN THIS BLOGG IS COPY STORIES GO TO GOOGLE TRANSLATOR AND MAKE MONEY FROM SPONSORS THAT WANNA PROMOTE IN THEIR PAGE .. GET A LIFE DO REAL REPORTING BORDERLAND BEAT GO TO MEXICO AND ACTUALLY REPORT AS JOURNALIST"

Mind you, I DO live in Baja, if the reader who wrote this cared enought to read the article, and in fact read at some time Narco Tijuana, he would know Narco TJ didn´t cover the time frame despicted in the article.

Last but not least, of course I read this information in other places(books, newspapers, TV news, etc), after all, I DID LIVE IN TIJUANA WHEN THIS HAPPENED,

This article is about cartel´s HISTORY, of course someone else wrote about this before(ZETA, La Jornada, PROCESO, Terra, El Pais, and much more I have never even read), but look it up, this isn´t a translation of another article from someone else.

Maybe I should just stop writting about this, the idea behind this article was to educate people on the history of the war for Tijuana, I DO NOT make any cent with this(neither any of the BB staff), I DO NOT ask for recognition or plan on selling any book about how cartels want to kill me for being the "only one" brave enough to post this(I´ve received threats, that doesn´t really matter), so don´t come telling me or anyone else in BB for the matter that we are like BDN.

He is right though. You don't know shit. I like this blog but you consistently only show one side of the evil in this war on drugs. Completely ignoring the true villains. US Government! Who trained the original zetas?

Tijuano your doing great. Don't listen to anyone hating on your shit. If they don't like it they can go pick another blog to read from. Most of us love your stories. Keep them coming! Can't wait for all the teo vs inge stufftthough! Saludos!

Viva ramon arellano, chapo and mayo were involved with ramon arellano to take out rigoberto campos, theres an idiot here saying that 1992 chapo try to kill ramon, that happen a couple years later when ramon was looking for mayo to pay up what mayo owed caf, and ramon also straight up killed el rayo lopez compa de chapo and that's what really kicked it off... los antrax was just chino antrax named, then they called vicentillo escoltas los antrax. it was chino and Frankie at first.....viva el Tiburon y el comandante mon!!! ramon is nothing like z40, ramon will go kill you not send wack ass people to do a dirty mission. They chapo and mayo are on the top now! exactly because back then nobody would rat on their enemies intill now, cds style!

Thanks for the article. I appreciate the background. I always thought "Ramon and the Headshots" would be a great name for a punk rock band. Also, now I know David "One Eye" Barron was waiting in hell for Ramon to enjoy the eternal pitchfork instead of the other way around. Thanks again !!

Of course this guy tijuano must have read or even copied from other persons its common sense. If not how would he know all the information so cut him some slack he took his time translating and putting the story together.

Dear Authors: Ignore these ignorant people that post garbage and trash talk and incredibly rude replies that show their lack of even average human intelligence. They do not understand the importance of documenting history, nor are they bright enough to be grateful that you took your personal times to mke this happen. As you can tell most seem to have an issue forming a full sentence, so you can't take what they write personally. Actually I would wish you would stop posting the smart mouth replies and only post replies that add to your hard work. I expect i'll get some smart mouth replies from some of the bad asses that hide behind their computer keyboard, but my thought is that all your articles are outstanding and informative and you all need to,be proud of that. Don't allow hater lowlifes that could not hope to do near as good a job, nor use their time to discourage you. Thank you again for all your outstanding articles, and the 2 part Tijuana article is prize worthy. !!:)

Every since i was very young i have been reading about mobsters particularly about la cosa nostra they were fascinating how they operated but this is right up there with it maybe better.thanks for your hard work but at least the sicilians didnt kill women and children.the stuff these narcos do is unbelievable and sickening

NOT IN AMERICA, BUT IN SICILY, THEY KILL THE MALE OFFSPRING OF PEOPLE THEY HIT, TO AVOID RETALIATION DOWN THE ROAD...AT LEAST IN THE MOVIES

That's right bro. At one point in U.S. history, the Cosa Nostra, consisted of 5 mob families, and their associates, from New York City of Sicilian origin, dominated organized crime in NYC. They had their hand in every type of racket that one could think of. They ran unions. Nobody could build anything unless they paid extortion fees. Before Lucky Luciano got deported, the U.S. govt. humbly asked the Cosa Nostra to cooperate in the war effort. This after Luciano carried out a terrorist attack that blocked New York harbor when he blew up a ship. The commision, as the Cosa Nostra was known, created Las Vegas as an American gambling mecca. Before Castro, they owned Cuba and turned Havana into a gambling mecca; in fact, Charles Luciano briefly made his home in Havana until the U.S. pressured Cuba to deport him-he established the French Connection while he was there. Some of my favorite movies are Italian Mafia related: Martin Scorsese's. Goodfellas and Casino. Although they altered some of the stories and names of the characters, however, for the most part their true. The five families were the following: the Gambinos(Carlo-Gotti), Lucceses(Goodfellas family), Bonano, Genovese, and Colombo. The cartels in Mexico might want to take a page from their book. The Cosa Nostra divided up territories and with permission, and a fee, allowed families to work in each others territories. However their is one group that has diminished their strength drastically. That group is the FBI. Inspired by their legendary director: J. Edgar Hoover, the body remover.

THE AFO/CAF WAS THE REAL COSA NOSTRA IN MEXICO. THESE WERE LEGITAMATE CONTEMPORARY MODERN DAY MOBSTERS.HONESTLY BENJAMIN ARELLANO HAD MORE TENTACLES TO CORRUPT AND POWER TO DO AND UNDO THAN JOHN GOTTI EVER DID.

Tijuano, Nevermind these online kids badmouthing about your time devoted publishes. Most likely these are young people with no goals in their road of life , you can tell by their level of maturity. Unfortunately, we can't please the whole world right?Anyways your in-depth of the original Tijuana Cartel since the 80's is very descriptive and interesting regarding this Mob that infiltrated deep in the underworld of both sides of the border. Born and raised in Chula Vista and Tijuana vice versa I have experiences about this type of life under my belt. But times change bro and the majority never survive in this life.A close family member of mine used to hang out in the 90's in the Chapultepec area of Tijuana and he still tells me till this day that the juniors were like wiseguys of a more Italian culture. Stand up guys with morals and values but still knuckleheads who would ride in their ninjas and bump music in their cars with the pistol in the compartment. I can tell you that this border has truly been the prime scene of love, blood money and murder for the last 3 decades. Hopefully you can share more of your publishes to your real audience of those times of Tijuana that will never come back again.

part 1 should of been how it all started, Miguel Gallardo, caro quintero, chuy labra,, then it was coquilo castro the biggest caf operator in los angeles to ever to it big. the killing of rigoberto campos, when they almost killed tigrillo arellano when he was younger, etc etc. the book "el cartel" tells you the entire history of the arellano cartel.!!! inge vs teo really started porke el jimmy el 7-7 lost a bet with el muletas. that started the war even though teo was hating on inge cuz of inge being the boss. y arriva Tijuana CAF

The only thing vicentillo zambada is heating up now is that cell block. Little girl crying about them not letting him see sun light and the food is bad. Wheres that comando de la muerte? He heated up Tijuana yet his dad still can't set foot their. That's why his in PC can't let him out with general population might run into an ARELLANO partner that he worked so hard to destroy.

I may post something like that someday, I didn´t do it because that really had no impact on the war for Tijuana, IF I ever do such post, I´ll love to find the info from the era when Baja California wasn´t even a state, when the Federal Government and the man in charge of Baja California sold franchises to opium dealers.

About the bet, I knew about that one, that happened in Los Arenales, in Rosarito, BUT I really doubt that began the war between Teo and Inge, the fact is Teo felt he had more merits to run the cartel than Fernando. Besides, he wanted to expand his business into kidnapping and charging taxes to honest people.

I didn´t knew Macho was ever in TJ, his son LIVES in TJ according to some people, Mayo´s nieces came to TJ but they were kidnapped by Juan Sillas, and two of his nephews tried to do a coke deal but got busted. Another one got killed about 3 months ago inside his home.

Mayo´s got people in Tijuana, in fact, I think only Mayo has people in Tijuana, those who claim to work for CDS in Tijuana answer to Mayo, not Chapo. The only time I heard about Chapo´s family in TJ is when his daughter was arrested at the Tijuana/San Ysidro Border.

Many readers answered, he was known as Don "Juan", I don´t have more info about him, people say he knew Chapo since he was born, but I really don´t know much about him other than he died a couple years ago.

PART 3 ? Honestly I just get on here to read articles about AFO/CAF keeping it more original Mafia style. Forget all that Zeta/Golfo beheading and naked women on video bullshit and all that middle eastern crap. Lets keep it Business and just use one or two stealth shooters with suppressors to take out rivals without making to much noise. Thats how Fernando wants it.

No andes diciendo pendejadas. No te veo a ti haciendo reportajes o artículos sobre el narco y su historia. Así que callate el osico....Tijuano, love all your posts man keep up the great work , and dont let these dumb fucks get to you. You have a great number of followers and respectful fans waiting on your work. Hope your alright and in good health.PS. Anxiously waiting on part 3.

This was a great article. I have a question.David Barron Corono to this day is like a God.What happened to the Logan Barrio Boys from 30th street. Has anyone heard of a Freddie Riboni? He told me he was in Guadalajara whenthe Cardinal was killed. He said he was at the hotel making arrangements for his home boys to get out of town and back to San Diego. Does anyone know his nick name besides Nando or Ferdinando Martinez Riboni? Why can't he go back to Mexico? He still meets with some of the survivors, even this year. Freddie Riboni was a member of the Logan Barrio Gang from a very early age. He told me his first kill was at the age of 12 and he was busted and sent away. As usual and like CH he learned a great deal while incarcerated. Anyone have info on this guy's criminal activity? I know he moves around all the time. Always on the move. He calls to cry if one of his home boys get killed or arrested, even to this day. He has this evil side and also this pussy side to him. Like a double personality.

All you guys are baboshos dont now half the story you publishers and commenters dont phase the fame and try to speak up for others you guys talk a great one C.N.T esta mas activo k nunca trabajando maziso eres oh no eres pagas oh te matan infiltrados e activos pa cualquier 51